eevBLAB 91 - Why Are Fluke Meters So EXPENSIVE?

[EEVblog]

8 industry reasons why Fluke meters are so expensive, and why people still buy them.
You might be surprised by some of the reasons and have not encountered this thinking before in the industry.

[PartialDischarge]

I disagree with 0 of the reasons you’ve given

[Bicurico]

These are all valid points, yet pretty specific ones (army).

I would sum it up as: you will never get fired for purchasing Fluke meters.

[EEVblog]

These are all valid points, yet pretty specific ones (army).

Not just army, the entire defense forces, government, education, and countless big businesses.
That total market is so big it makes Fluke still one of the highest volume multimeter makers in the world.

[M0HZH]

...
I would sum it up as: you will never get fired for purchasing Fluke meters.

Working in the test equipment industry, I can confirm this slogan is heard frequently. I think it started in the 80's and it was about HP, but it suits Fluke very well.

[EEVblog]

...
I would sum it up as: you will never get fired for purchasing Fluke meters.

Working in the test equipment industry, I can confirm this slogan is heard frequently. I think it started in the 80's and it was about HP, but it suits Fluke very well.

It was a famous slogan for IBM - "No one ever got fired for buying IBM." from the 1970's.

[rsjsouza]

The labs where I work have a large set of 15~20 year old Fluke portable meters (87-V, 187, 189) that are shared among everyone in multiple labs - calibrated annually. In conversations with the techs, they say they "just work" - zero headaches, zero mechanical breakage, mechanically robust.

This is similar to what I used to see in the 1990s in the university labs in Brazil: tons of banged up Analog VOM Sanwas still quite accurate and working well - despite the higher fragility of the movement.

Brymen is getting there, but they need time.

[tszaboo]

About measurement confidence: Yes, it is very important and it can be very costly. Years ago where I worked had these large shunt resistors, that were used together with 34401As to calibrate (and adjust) the product that we were shipping to our customers. We were sending out these shunts to get them calibrated to an external lab. One year, one of the shunts came back as "out of spec". So then we had to trace back which units we used to calibrate with this particular shunts, because all of them needed to be recalibrated. Also, we had to send a technician to Japan to fix a bunch of the units that were there just to make sure they are OK. The worst part is, the drift of the shunt was within the specification of the manufacturer of the resistor, and as far as I could tell, there were no justification why the procedures were like that.
So yes. Having cheap test equipment can be very costly.

[The Doktor]

If it's a good reading, it must be a fluke 

[firewalker]

In my military service I had to use analog meters because the documentation was for a specific analog multimeter. We had boxes and boxes of new old stock of this meter. It is far from trivial to apply a change.

Alexander.

[cliffyk]

Why Are Fluke Meters So EXPENSIVE?

Same reason as divorces--they are worth it...

[Caliaxy]

It was a famous slogan for IBM - "No one ever got fired for buying IBM." from the 1970's.

I see it working at the other end, too - “No one ever got divorced for buying Aneng.”

[SteveyG]

Aside from trust and reliability, it's also the same reason everyone uses Keysight scopes in professional environments. Any electronics engineer will pick up a Fluke meter or a Keysight scope and just know how it works and how to interpret readings. Put an R&S scope in front of someone or a random multimeter and you need to waste time navigating the UI or checking everything is in the correct mode/port etc.

It was a famous slogan for IBM - "No one ever got fired for buying IBM." from the 1970's.

I see it working at the other end, too - “No one ever got divorced for buying Aneng.”

You don't get divorced if you are deceased. 

[gnavigator1007]

Been seeing lots of referencing to each others videos in the nerdier sectors of youtube lately. Just had this video recommended to me.

[Dread]

When I use my 87-V meter I always have confidence that the reading I am getting is accurate.  Thats why Fluke is the only meter for me.

Another small point.  I have never opened a Fluke meter and found a leaking battery in it.  I have had Flukes since the 1980s and left Duracell batteries in some 77s for a few years and no leaks.  I have other no name brand meters that leaked with the first set of batteries I put in.

Has anyone opened a Fluke meter and found a leaking 9V battery?

[EEVblog]

Been seeing lots of referencing to each others videos in the nerdier sectors of youtube lately. Just had this video recommended to me.

Ah, didn't know he did a response.
He shot this before I did my video, just based on my Youtube comment, so I had more expanded explainations in the video.

[gnavigator1007]

Yes I saw in the comments that someone mentioned your video to him. He replied to that commenter, mentioning that he had intended to upload earlier in the day, but was late. Just a wild coincidence you both posted fluke related videos so close together. Made for nice back to back viewing

[Shock]

Ah, didn't know he did a response.
He shot this before I did my video, just based on my Youtube comment, so I had more expanded explanations in the video.

Dave I forget which video I saw of his but he did something similar and totally missed the mark on it. I really liked the video you did and it summed it up perfectly. I was wondering if one of his videos inspired yours.

As much as I'm sure Kiss Analog knows his respective field of expertise geez he sprouts some totally incoherent sentences. He needs to spend some time editing out his pointless drivel.

[EEVblog]

Ah, didn't know he did a response.
He shot this before I did my video, just based on my Youtube comment, so I had more expanded explanations in the video.

Dave I forget which video I saw of his but he did something similar and totally missed the mark on it. I really liked the video you did and it summed it up perfectly. I was wondering if one of his videos inspired yours.

Hi latest video jus treleased was based entirely on my response, which at the time was just a comment on an old video of his. I then truned that comment into a video whcih he hadn't seen because we released them about the same time.

[artag]

Not sure if this has been covered, but one reason I buy well-known makes like Fluke and HP and Myford (in another sphere) is exactly that they're well-known.

I pretty well always buy secondhand and if I buy these brands I not only think they have a good choice of being in working condition, I also know that IU will be able to find parts, schematics, or other people who've worked on them. Even if the company is notoriously tight with repair information, I've a good chance of being able to fix it.

Thus, I have about 5 flukes, none of which cost me more than about £50, and I was able to repair the only one that came to me faulty.

I haven't tried with Brymen - maybe they're even better and provide schematics ? I think Fluke used to but not any more.

[rsjsouza]

Not sure if this has been covered, but one reason I buy well-known makes like Fluke and HP and Myford (in another sphere) is exactly that they're well-known.

I pretty well always buy secondhand and if I buy these brands I not only think they have a good choice of being in working condition, I also know that IU will be able to find parts, schematics, or other people who've worked on them. Even if the company is notoriously tight with repair information, I've a good chance of being able to fix it.

Thus, I have about 5 flukes, none of which cost me more than about £50, and I was able to repair the only one that came to me faulty.

I haven't tried with Brymen - maybe they're even better and provide schematics ? I think Fluke used to but not any more.

Brymen does not provide schematics, but their meters are quite well built. Also, the support they provide is excellent.

[EEVblog]

I haven't tried with Brymen - maybe they're even better and provide schematics ? I think Fluke used to but not any more.

Brymen do not provide schematics.
Some current model Fluke have schematics, some don't. Although some may have been leaked I suspect, like the 17B that has "Proprietary" on it.
Would be nice to have a comprehensive thread of meter schematics actually.

[bigsky]

Regarding the Fluke lifetime warranty, I can confirm that it means what it says. My 28 II developed a weird fault, I sent it back to them, and in about a week a brand new replacement arrived. I had registered the meter that failed so they were able to check ownership - the story might be different if yours was bought second-hand and registered to someone else. There are very few companies that offer such a good warranty. I agree 100% with everything else that Dave said.

This is a bit off-topic, but there is one other thing I have noticed with Fluke. Nothing gets you more instant credibility with a client than pulling out a full-size modern Fluke DMM. Yes, obviously any fool with enough money could buy one, but it seems that it is only competent professionals that make the investment. I've never regretted it myself.

[Martin72]

Saw this video a few minutes ago and yes, I agree to all the points.
I´m working as a testfield-coordinator ( former "only" technician) in a company, which are building high quality power solutions for ship, submarine, aircraft and so on, in military grade and standards.
Everything we work with must be external calibrating, fully traceable.
Even crimp tools !!!
Fluke is the standard for the reasons Dave are telling in his vid, so we got EVERYTHING from fluke what multimeters and enviromental probes concerns.
Especially the 87, we got appx 30 pcs from it, all 87V - and one 87 from 1990...
In all these years it went through the calibration processes without needing any adjustment.
For example, in private I´ve bought a Brymen 859s and give it away for external calibration.
It comes back with an ISO protocol and in several ranges it was re-adjusted for reaching the own specs.
We´re talking about two weeks after buying it NEW...
Fluke is the standard, mic drop.

[gnavigator1007]

As much as I'm sure Kiss Analog knows his respective field of expertise geez he sprouts some totally incoherent sentences. He needs to spend some time editing out his pointless drivel.

Absolutely! I know Dave has acknowledged his own tendency for waffle, but this is something else entirely. I can't remember Dave ever being so hard to follow, even if he might run off on a tangent or mis-speak on occasion. I haven't watched much of Kiss Analog's videos largely due to an unfair prejudice against the way he pronounces "multimeter", but I actually would be interested in hearing more of his stories. He seems like a nice enough person with an interesting background that is taking the time to put out content. It just seems like there is a disconnect at times between where his brain is and the words coming out of his mouth.